Development Blog – 3. End of Alpha 2

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Last Monday marked the end of Legends of Aria Alpha 2. Our Alpha was live for a little over 7 weeks and was played by thousands of pledges. We want to thank all pledges who joined us for the test and all new pledges who have come aboard.

Legends of Aria begun with a very simple combat system as part of our combat rewrite and was implemented to meet specific testing criteria. Our goal was to bring combat in line with our original vision, going back to basics and to design a new comprehensive combat system which aligned with our broader plans for the crafting and item economy for Legends of Aria.

We’ve paid particular attention to feedback over the weeks and can say that overall, your feedback has mirrored our own on many aspects of the combat system. Our goal was to bring fluidity into combat, create a more deadly environment whilst engaging in combat and give each player a natural sense of his or her own individual power. To achieve this we definitely went back to basics, but are extremely happy with the result and excited to start fleshing out the combat system to give players real choices in creating diverse characters.

Alpha 3

Alpha 3 is quickly approaching and will be taking place this Summer. Alpha 3 will herald the return of many of our more sandbox features, unveil vast new regions and dungeons to explore and introduce our redesigned item economy.

Combat

As we enter Alpha 3, combat will continue to be expanded, adding the next layer to player strategy and character specialisation:

New player stats

Player stats are being expanded and their influence increased, allowing characters to greater define their strengths.

Less missing, more critical hits

Weapon skills will no longer determine a player’s chance to hit but grant proficiency with higher quality equipment. The hit chance mechanic has been overhauled to offer variance based on weapon types and a players individual stats. Critical hits are also ready to make a return and will play a part in this dynamic.

Basic characters now have access to choose and train 3 combat abilities in addition to their primary and secondary weapon abilities.

Crafting

Crafting is being overhauled for Alpha 3 and will feature an entirely new systems for item creation, item properties and utility across crafted items:

Redefined item properties across all players equipment

New weapons & armors

New crafting ingredients and a return of multiple ore types

New potions and consumables

Overhaul of fishing & cooking

Alpha 3 is going to mark some big changes in the item economy of Legends of Aria in facilitating a wide and immersive player economy where all playstyles are given equal opportunity to play a part in Celador.

Vitality System

Vitality is a new core feature arriving in Alpha 3. Vitality is new stat pool being applied to player characters and is a measure of a player’s general energy and well being. As players exert themselves in the land of Celador, a players’ vitality will be depleted and will need to be replenished periodically should they wish to maintain their optimum effectiveness. Negative events such as death and hunger will increase the rate at which vitality is lost; positive actions such as rest, eating quality food or even being entertained at a local inn can replenish and reduce the loss of vitality.

The goal of vitality is to create the opportunity for players to engage in more meaningful interactions, paving the way for different crafts and occupations to supplement others characters effectiveness and in creating social hubs throughout Celador. Vitality will also play a role in the prevention of AFK macroing and other automation.

New Player Experience

Alpha 2 made huge strides regarding making the user interface more intuitive to new players. However, by removing all the new player quests we were certainly guilty of throwing new players into the deep end. We strongly believe that linear quests and artificial tasks set the wrong precedent for Legends of Aria and have therefore designed a new player experience which aligns with our open world.

Alpha 3 will include a revamped new player experience, offering a dynamic guide for new players as they enter the world of Celador. We will have more details on our plans for this in the coming weeks.

Community Servers and Modding

Now that Alpha 2 is behind us, we have turned our focus towards community server tools and support. We are excited to announce that we are releasing our prototype of custom maps and objects in July. We are working on some examples and tutorial videos to release with the new toolkit. We can’t wait to see what the modders come up with.

Additionally, we are almost done with the web launcher that allows admins to launch and configure their servers from a single interface without manually editing configuration files. This should lower the barrier to entry for running your own server significantly.

Oh yea! The next server release will support the long awaited ‘Possession’ god ability. This allows admins to inhabit and control NPCs and monsters without your players knowledge… The RP potential with this feature is huge!

And more!

Alpha 3 will feature new long awaited skills, overhauls to existing skills and the release of new regions and & dungeons.

The Black Forest, Southern Hills & Southern Rim regions.

New dungeon interiors, monsters and bosses.

New skills: Musicianship, Barding & Stealing.

Overhauls to Fishing & Cooking.

In the coming weeks we will be releasing more information on what to expect from combat in Alpha 3 both here on the blog and in our monthly Community Roundtables.

Join us on Twitch at 1pm EST this Saturday for the July Community Roundtable.

If you’d like to join the discussion or share your feedback on this blog entry, join the conversation on our forums!

Your pledges are what makes Legends of Aria possible. We can’t thank you enough for your support! If you have any feedback or suggestions, we’re always available via our Forums, Facebook, Twitter & Reddit. Thanks for reading!

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